MPP Clark speaks on school closures

"I was shocked to learn of the Upper Canada District School Board's report proposing to close up to 30 schools, including 10 in Leeds-Grenville. If this proposal goes ahead, four of those schools in my riding could close at the end of this school year.

"Only a couple of years before I was elected in 2010, this board completed its Boundary 2020 accommodation review process. Communities here have already been torn apart by that painful process, which resulted in the closure of schools that were central to life in these places.

"I'm calling on trustees to reject any plan to close schools in June 2017. In the meantime, parents and students can be assured I will work with my colleagues in the Ontario PC Caucus who represent communities with schools targeted for closure in the report to demand the Minister of Education fix the government's broken funding model.

"The parents, students and residents of school communities in Leeds-Grenville have already done their part with Boundary 2020. To expect us to go back and shutter more schools because the Wynne government isn't prepared to properly fund education in rural and small town Ontario is simply unacceptable. I would expect the Upper Canada board to join me in taking a stand against this attack on our way of life."